Last time I was at the San Francisco airport waiting for a delayed flight, all anxious and annoyed, I met this rescue dog. He was being flown along with his trainers to his first mission. Upon seeing this excited pup, petting him and talking to his owners about what a fine dog he was, I was immediately calmed.
Wouldn’t it be great if there were dog petting stations at airports?
I used to have this banner on my blog. For the longest time, I couldn’t come back here and post. It was just too painful. Maggie, on the left, was a dog I had lost when I started the blog and so I posted the picture in memory of her. Sasha, the dog on the right was still happily with me then.
Then, last September, 2007, I lost Sasha, too. That loss was especially painful. Now it’s April 2008 and it has taken me this amount of time to come back here and look at this picture and acknowledge the joy I had spending time in the company of these 2 beautiful beings. I miss both of them so, so much and every day… Since then, I’ve adopted 2 other dogs, Calvin and Ralph. It’s good, I love them both but it’s not quite the same. If you’re a dog owner, you know how the intensity of the connection can vary.
This picture was taken at Pt. Isabel, a dog park I’ve visited thousands of times. Yes, really. I’ve lived in this house since 1994 and have gone at least once a day since then. It’s a magnificent dog park, 23-31 acres (accounts vary) of open land, a perfect place for dogs to swim and run, unencumbered by a leash. It also has unobstructed views of the San Francisco skyline and the Golden Gate and Bay bridges. There’s Mt. Tamalpais out in the distance.
Calvin, one of my dogs, is here in this picture. That’s him, the yellowish figure with the black nose, standing on the chair, looking out the window and waiting for me when I come home.
Every year, the Berkeley Humane Society hosts a fundraiser called Bay-to-Barkers and it’s held at the Berkeley Marina. It was a gorgeous day that day with kites in flight in the background and dogs and their owners enjoying each others company.
I saw this dog at Pt. Isabel and took his picture. That’s about all I can say. He looked confident, strong and happy and had the biggest tongue of any dog I’ve ever seen.
Most kids get wide-eyed and excited when they see a dog. Usually they will fearlessly go up to one and pet it or if older, ask first if it’s OK. Sometimes kids are scared of dogs or parents bring their kids to the dog park and shield them from dogs other than their own. That’s probably a good practice. You never know, I guess.
But I like to see parents and kids interacting with the other dogs. If handled right, kids get to meet a new dog, under safe conditions. In this picture, the owners are carefully monitoring the situation, holding the leash, as the mother initiates the contact, petting the dog and making sure all is safe. See the child smiling? A positive experience all around.
Chubby was a dog who used to sit in a chair in front of the shoe repair place on Colusa in Kensington, CA near where I live. Chubby was the store owner’s dog and he was a very popular photographic subject. See the pictures frames in the window? Each one contains a picture of Chubby, submitted by his admirers. I gave the owner a framed picture, too. A closeup shot of Chubby. Awhile back, the shoe repair store closed temporarily. It’s open again but I never see Chubby in the chair any more.
This is the first dog picture I remember taking. The event – a sandcastle building contest at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. The weather was chilly but spirits were high. Amazing sandcastles were built that day and dogs were to lend their support…
This is the second time I’ve done it-taken a “look like she’s lost” dog home from Albany Bulb and then returned it to the owner. In retrospect, I overreacted and handled the “rescues” too hastily.
Both rescue efforts had a similar storyline-I saw a small dog looking lost, wandering down the path that runs adjacent to the parking lot. I waited to hear someone call for the dog. I looked around, too, to see if anyone looked like they were looking for a lost dog. In both cases, I asked passerbys if they saw anyone looking or calling for a dog and the people I asked said no.
I approached the dog to see if they had a tag, put a leash on them and carried them to my car since I don’t own a cell phone and had to go home and call the owner. The first time, I came back to Albany Bulb and returned the dog to the owner there. The second time, the person came to my house and picked up her dog.
In retrospect, I should have just waited on the path once I had the dog on the leash. Although each person thanked me for returning their dog, I could sense that they were slightly freaked out that I had taken their dog home. So, while I don’t plan to give up “rescuing” “lost” dogs, I do plan on more of a wait and see approach in the future.
I had planned to take pictures of both dogs. But it seemed exploitative. The picture above is a scan of the tag of the second dog. I scanned it because the phone number was too hard to read otherwise. I removed the name and phone number to protect the dog and the owner’s identity.
I’m a published photographer! Five of my photos appeared in the June 2007 issue of Dog Fancy! The publication was doing a story on America’s Best Dog Park and contacted me via Jerry of Pt. Isabel Dog Owners to provide pictures. I worked with the writer to find out the types of shots she needed, went to the park to shoot, submitted my photos and voila!
This is one of the shots, taken to show swimming facilities, paths and open space at Pt. Isabel.
